Seahawks say ticket limits were to avoid brokers

RENTON, Wash. -- The Seattle Seahawks say their decision to limit ticket sales for the NFC championship game against the 49ers to certain states was due to concerns over ticket brokers.

The Seahawks sold out a small allotment of available tickets -- less than 3,000 -- in less than 30 minutes Monday. The team has taken heat for excluding fans with billing addresses in California from purchasing tickets to Sunday's game between the Seahawks and San Francisco.

The team says that when tickets went on sale for the playoff game against New Orleans, brokers had found a way to manipulate the system and acquire most of them, then increasing the price on the open market.

Seattle announced its decision to limit sales to those with billing addresses in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, Alaska and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta after Saturday's win over New Orleans and before the Seahawks knew their opponent.